Alibaba and Alibaba Coin settle Trademark Dispute as latter apologizes for causing public confusion

18 Mar 2019

Categories: Intellectual Property News

March 18,2019:

The dispute between Dubai-based Alibabacoin Foundation, a cryptocurrency firm, and Alibaba Holding Group, a Chinese e-commerce company, have come to an end.

A US judge rejected last year a complaint by Alibaba as the alleged Trademark Infringement would have occurred in China.The developer of ABBC Coin and MC wallet today said, “They reached an agreement to settle a long spat with the Chinese IT conglomerate which intended to block the foundation from using the Alibaba name.” Alibaba Group is likely to come up with a final settlement regarding an offer for acquiring Alibabacoin Foundation, this is not confirmed yet.

Alibabacoin made a statement to Finance Magnates in an email, “Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. (Alibaba) and ABBC Blockchain IT Solutions LLC (ABBC) today announced that they had reached a worldwide settlement of claims involving use of the name ALIBABACOIN, with ABBC agreeing not to use trademarks that include the term ALIBABA worldwide.” They added, “ABBC regrets any public confusion that may have arisen from its former use of ALIBABACOIN”.

A US judge rejected last year’s complaint filed by Alibaba Group as the alleged Trademark Infringement would have occurred in China, rather than in the United States.

The Chinese e-commerce giant argued that Alibabacoin was behind the”unlawful scheme to misappropriate the Alibaba name” and claimed that this could potentially confuse or deceive investors worldwide. However, the judge dismissed the Alibaba Group’s complaint on the grounds that this matter would not fall under US jurisdiction.

Alibabacoin previously rejected Alibaba’s claims that they are infringing on its Trademark, saying this name is commonly used in Dubai and does not belong to a certain entity or individual. Alibabacoin lawyers added that “The fact that ICOs are banned in China means that confusing the two is even less likely”.

However, the case contended that they published materials promoting their cryptocurrency product which impermissibly use Alibaba’s trademarks to connect AlibabaCoin with Alibaba in the mind of consumers.